About
The character 啻 combines the 口 (kǒu) radical, representing the mouth, with the phonetic component 帝 (dì). It means "merely", "only", or "just", and is found almost exclusively in classical and formal writing. Its primary use is in the negative compound 不啻 (bùchì), meaning "not only" or "tantamount to". The mouth radical alludes to the act of speaking a limitation. Functioning as an adverb or conjunction, 啻 is restricted to literary language and formal idioms expressing comparison or limitation.
Etymology Hide
